Five-Game Battle Goes to CSU

PROVO -- Despite winning the statistical battle and holding the nation's No. 4 hitter well below her average, No. 17 BYU came up on the short end of a five-game match with Colorado State Saturday night in the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars fall to 8-4 overall and 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference after suffering the 32-34, 31-33, 31-29, 30-22, 9-15 defeat. The Rams improve to 8-4 and 3-1 with the win.

"These are exciting matches; unfortunately, sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "I'm happy we had the determination to come back and force a fifth game, but we just need to get better."

The Cougars were successful in holding CSU's Mekana Barnes to a .263 attack percentage on her 18 kills, well below her .494 average that ranks fourth nationally. BYU also hit .285 as a team compared to CSU's .229 attack and outproduced the Rams in blocks (17.5-10.0) and digs (82-81) but failed to gain the ultimate advantage in a match that lasted two hours and 41 minutes and featured 37 ties and 16 lead changes.

Both teams had two game-point opportunities they couldn't convert during an extremely competitive game one before the Rams recorded the game winner at 34-32. When the second game started it didn't appear the final score would again be pushed beyond the 30-point mark. CSU claimed the early momentum while building solid leads at 8-2 and 11-4 before the Cougars turned the game around with an 8-0 run to take a one-point advantage.

BYU had three chances to even the match in the second game, but the Cougars couldn't put down a point with leads at 29-27 and again at 31-30. The Rams didn't fare any better on their first game-point opportunity at 30-29 but later rallied with the last three scores of the contest for the 33-31 win.

The Cougars seemed destined for a three-game defeat when the Rams held a 27-23 lead in game three. But Chelsea Goodman's kill on the next possession was the beginning of six straight Cougar points to give the Cougars their sixth game-point opportunity of the match at 29-27. Back-to-back Ram points evened the game at 29-29 before BYU finally broke through for the win at 31-29.

BYU never trailed in the fourth game while hitting a match-high .467 in a 30-22 win. With the Cougars leading 6-4 in the decisive fifth game, the Rams scored seven straight points during an 11-3 run to earn the 15-9 triumph.

Goodman recorded 20 kills for the second time this season to pace BYU's attack. The senior outside hitter hit an efficient .304 and posted her 42nd career double-double by adding 17 digs. Middle blocker Rachel Dyer contributed 17 kills while hitting .400 with only three errors while fellow middle Ashton Hansen boasted the team's top attack percentage of .474 with nine kills and no errors while setting a career high with 13 blocks to lead BYU.

CSU's Jamie Strauss put down a match-best 30 kills with a .419 attack as the only Ram to hit above .300.

BYU goes on the road next week to face Wyoming Friday and Air Force Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                                  BYU Cougars
        Colorado State vs #17 BYU Cougars (Sep 22, 2007 at Provo, Utah)
    Colorado State         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  STRAUSS,Jamie.......  5| 30   4  62  .419|  2|  1   3|  2| 21| 0  2  0|  0|  32.0
 2  FORNSTROM,Ashley....  5|  2   1   9  .111| 80|  1   1|  1| 10| 0  4  0|  2|   5.0
 3  BARNES,Mekana.......  5| 18   8  38  .263|  0|  3   5|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  23.0
 7  MOKELKI,Tonya.......  5| 14   7  44  .159|  0|  0   3|  1|  7| 0  4  0|  0|  16.0
 11 NELSON,Tessa........  5|  4   0  15  .267|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  6  0|  0|   7.0
 13 MINCH,Daniell.......  5| 15  11  45  .089|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  1|  15.0
 5  WALLACE,Jonelle.....  2|  2   2   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 6  BATTEN,Katelin......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  3   1|  1| 27| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 10 FAHNESTOCK,Amanda...  3|  0   1   4 -.250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 DAVISSON,Jacqueline.  5|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  2   2|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 16 HEMMINGS,Audrey.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 RODRICK,Crystin.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 85  34 223  .229| 83| 10  15|  6| 81| 0 20  0|  3| 105.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  6  59  .271   GAME SCORES               1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  21 11  63  .159   Colorado State...... (3) 34 33 29 22 15  8-4, 3-1 MWC
   3  20 10  52  .192   BYU Cougars......... (2) 32 31 31 30  9  8-4, 1-2 MWC
   4  12  5  27  .259
   5  10  2  22  .364
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  GOODMAN, Chelsea....  5| 20   6  46  .304|  1|  2   1|  3| 17| 0  3  0|  0|  23.5
 4  HANSEN, Ashton......  5|  9   0  19  .474|  3|  0   0|  0|  0| 0 13  0|  1|  15.5
 9  ROGERS, Kiana.......  5|  3   0   9  .333| 63|  1   1|  0| 19| 1  3  0|  3|   6.5
 10 LOTT, Erica.........  5| 14   8  40  .150|  1|  1   4|  0|  5| 0  6  2|  0|  18.0
 13 PORTER, Bryn........  5| 11   4  37  .189|  2|  0   1|  3| 14| 0  5  0|  1|  13.5
 44 DYER, Rachel........  5| 17   3  35  .400|  1|  1   2|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0|  19.5
 11 PINEGAR, Annie......  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  4| 21| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 20 JUDKINS, Jenna......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 74  21 186  .285| 71|  6  10| 10| 82| 1 33  2|  5|  97.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  9  50  .200   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  13  3  44  .227   Date: Sep 22, 2007   Attend: 1705   Time: 2h 41m
   3  19  4  44  .341   Referees: Patsy Malta, Bruce Grant, Karen Marshall
   4  17  3  30  .467
   5   6  2  18  .222